We love Keanu and John Wick, but we’ve got some serious questions that need answering in the next installment.
We don’t really need any of the John Wick films to make sense — not entirely, anyway. What we love about them is the action, the exquisite retro neo-noir style, and of course, Keanu Reeves.
The filmmakers have gone out of their way to create an elaborately detailed world in the John Wick movies. Still, over the three flicks so far in the franchise, the writers have left some big question marks unanswered. The lo-fi criminal underworld that Wick inhabits is beginning to flesh out, but by the next instalment, John Wick 4, we’re looking for answers to at least some of these major issues.
Keanu Reeves’ life and career have had their ups and downs, but since he starred in the first John Wick in 2014, he’s been on a steady climb in popularity. If any of the many stories about Keanu Reeves doing good deeds are true, it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.
We already know a few details about John Wick 4, but there are still so many questions. John, we need some answers.
John Wick is a master assassin, but then again, he lives in a world of master assassins. What he does seem to have is the key to living through any injury. Seriously, even if he was still breathing after that drop from the window, he’d be suffering from so many internal injuries he’d die on the way to the Bowery King’s hangout.
We’ve seen the curtain pulled back to show a little of the inner workings of the High Table, especially in the character of The Adjudicator. Still, it’s hard to make out what, if any, hard and fast rules they operate by. The Manager betrays them, but is let back in their good books. John Wick, not so lucky.
The Manager goes so far as to defy The Adjudicator, at least at one point. What does that mean about The Continental and its status? It’s not clear if The High Table owns the Continental line of hotels worldwide, and who has the cash for all the toys they offer. John got a lot of ammo along with a room for his one gold coin.
When John knocks on the door of the Ruska Roma, we meet another strange world inside this underworld, one of classical ballet and bullets. The Director, played by Anjelica Huston, helps her former protégé, but knows it will interfere with their peace treaty with the High Table. How does all that work?
We know that John is from Belarus, and that’s how he ended up as part of the Ruska Roma. But…what happened after that? We do know that the price he paid to retire was made in the form of services to the Russian hood whose son went and killed John’s dog. Was he working for the Russians, the Ruska Roma, or as a freelance assassin?
In John Wick 2, John gets a bulletproof suit from The Continental’s stores, which begs the question, why doesn’t he just have one all the time? Even when he ostensibly retired, he kept a private cache of weapons; it seems only logical that he’d do the same with a bulletproof suit.
Like the low tech communications system, the criminal underworld seems to prefer old school currency in the form of specially minted gold coins. It’s unclear, though, exactly what they are worth. John seems to pay the same single gold coin for a drink as he does for a room at the hotel or even a gun.
The neo-noir underworld of the John Wick movies is supposed to be secretive, with an underground network of businesses like The Continental where John knows he can go with his gold coins. But…he also steps into a random cab, and sure enough, the cab driver knows all about the coins and the hotel. How can he always tell who is an associate?
In a world full of cutthroat killers, you’d think handling the large payments made to assassins, and then carting around all those gold coins, would be somewhat conspicuous, and certainly hazardous. Yet, we never see any of that, including where John keeps coming up with more gold coins once he’s run out, even though he hasn’t done a paid job in years.
There are many fan theories about the John Wick movies. After watching the first three movies, though, you don’t have to be a super fan to agree with one of the more popular theories — that, in this dark retro world, assassins really aren’t operating in secret. Certainly, at the end of John Wick 2, half of the city seemed to be after him. How could that be a secret?
In John Wick 3, we got to see The Elder, presumably the head of the High Table…or is he? It’s hard to see how he could be in charge of anything in that dog-eat-dog criminal underworld while he’s in such a remote location, out of communication. He also doesn’t seem very menacing, or smart for that matter. What is he The Elder of?
John Wick 3 showed us some of the machinery of the High Table, including a room full of women dressed in tight skirts and nylons à la wartime, using very old school phone and computer tech. We get that the old tech is untraceable, but who are those heavily tattooed babes…maybe former assassins?
The moment where John Wick becomes Excommunicado is counted down over an old tech system, and a huge bounty is immediately announced over his head. Who is setting that bounty, and why? If he is just being kicked out of the High Table’s purview, it seems like a very high price to pay just to get rid of him. Or, is there another old grudge involved?
The first John Wick film was clearly a revenge flick, and the second riffed off that story. The third went into uncharted territory, and now Wick is supposed to be living just to remember the good times with his wife. That doesn’t seem like quite enough motivation for the kind of carnage and mayhem we’re expecting in John Wick 4.
Yes, he’s still alive, but Bubba the pit bull, who has been John’s companion since the end of the first movie, has had very little quality time with his human companion since then. He’s been shuffled from one babysitter to another. Will John finally be able to give Bubba a good home, walkies, and treats?